COLOMBO: The emergence of female leaders is an unstoppable force, and such leaders are emerging from across varied generations with multifaceted knowledge and talent and are showcasing resilience and driving change in their respective industries.
In the professional service industry, we feature Rifka Ziyard a multifaceted tax professional with experience in both Finance and Management, who was recently appointed as the Principal – Tax & Regulatory at KPMG in Sri Lanka. She has over 11 years of experience in the field of taxation and is versatile in handling large scale tax advisory projects, structuring of new business ventures, international taxation, and dispute handling with revenue authorities. In addition to her knowledge in tax, Rifka specializes in related areas of study such as Islamic Finance, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Common Reporting Standard (CRS) etc.
Rifka is also a public speaker and has moderated/presented tax technical sessions where she strives to share knowledge on the complex Sri Lankan tax system. She is a lecturer in taxation and currently is part of the resource personnel for the Chartered Tax Advisor, a professional tax qualification provided by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Sri Lanka. She has also been part of the visiting faculty for the MBA in taxation at the University of Colombo and the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM). She has authored articles for many news publications including Colombo Times.
In addition to her passion for the subject of tax, Rifka strives to assist many young accounting professionals via mentoring programmes for career building. She is currently a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Council where she was elected by the CIMA member fraternity. Rifka was the Chair of the CIMA Sri Lanka Network Panel in the year 2020 and she was the Vice Chair in the year 2019. Rifka was also a member of the CIMA MESANA Regional Advisory Panel in the year 2019/20.
She is an Alumni of the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP), the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program focusing on Global Economic Cooperation.
Rifka is a past pupil of Musaeus College, Colombo 07. She is a Fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK (FCMA) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). Rifka is also a Fellow member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Taxation (FTII). She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Colombo and was awarded the Ceylon Chemical Industries joint gold medal for Strategic Management. She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the same University.
Colombo Times congratulates Rifka on her achievements as a female business leader and wish her well to achieve greater heights in the profession.
